Happy Birthday
by kirayasha aka kira
Summary: The gang gets together to surprise a fellow Host club member on his birthday. Belated Gift!fic for Jen,


Happy Birthday

By kira

_For Jen… happy birthday & many, many, many more to come! "huggles"_

_Author's note: Thanks to Karina for the fix on Tamaki's French! Much appreciated, mon Amie! ;p_

888

Tamaki hummed softly to himself as he raided Hunny's sweet cabinet. _Happy Birthday to you…hmmm… Happy birthday to you… _He had seen the diminutive blond put several chocolate cupcakes, which were all that was left of the two dozen he used during the club's activities, inside. _Now where'd you put them…? Happy birthday dear… hmmm… hmmm… Happy birthday to you…There you are! _Tamaki pulled out the box containing the mocha confections and carefully opened it.

_I hope to heaven you don't count these things, Hunny…_the Host Club president thought as he took one. He set it on top of the cabinet and quickly closed the box. After putting it back, he straightened and shut the cabinet door. _There! Hopefully with a bit of luck, no one'll be the wiser…_

Grinning broadly, Tamaki pulled a candle out of his uniform jacket's pocket and stuck it in the middle of the cupcake. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a book of matches. Striking the match, it flared angrily to life, before settling down to a gentle flicker. He quickly lit the single candle and blew out the match.

"Happy birthday to you… happy birthday to you…" he sang softly as he picked up the cupcake. Shielding the flame with his hand, he slowly walked through the third music room. "Happy birthday dear…" He half hummed, half giggled the name. "Happy birthday to you!"

As he passed the baby grand piano, he paused and sat down, setting the cupcake next to the music rest. Opening the keyboard, he stretched his fingers and began to play the melody to _Happy Birthday_. When he came to the end of the song, he blew the candle out. _I wish everyone had remembered,_ he thought sadly.

Tamaki was so wrapped up in feeling sorry for himself that he failed to hear the soft click of the music room door opening, followed by several soft footsteps and hushed whispers. He sighed as he leaned on his upturned left palm, tapping out _Happy Birthday_ note by single note, the way his mother had taught him when he was little. Just as he came to the conclusion that this was the worst birthday ever, they shouted, "Happy Birthday, Tamaki!!"

The blond looked up, startled. He slowly turned around on the piano bench, facing them. "Thank you…" he whispered softly, not trusting himself to speak.

"Blow out your candles and make a wish," Haruhi said as she held out a chocolate cake.

"Haruhi's dad made it!" Hunny exclaimed as the others gathered around.

Tamaki looked up at her, surprise written all over his face as her father did not exactly care for him.

"He did it as a special favor for me," she said somewhat embarrassedly. "Anyway, blow out your candles so we can cut your cake and give Hunny-sempai a piece." She smiled. "He's been so good about watching over it and not touching it."

"Yeah?" Tamaki chuckled.

"Yup! Well, Usa-chan did help…" Hunny clarified.

"Yeah… he did a great job of it too," Kaoru said ruefully as his twin nodded in agreement.

"Really?"

"Yup…" Hikaru replied as he eyed Mori anxiously.

Tamaki glanced briefly at Haruhi, and taking a deep breath, he blew out his candles.

"Happy Birthday," Kyouya said, handing the blond a small package. "It's a little something from all of us."

"Thanks, everyone." Tamaki carefully unwrapped it. It was a CD of music by Mozart, including his favorite, _Sonata for two pianos in D major_. "How'd you…?"

"A little bear told us," Haruhi replied as she took the cake and started cutting it.

"Really?" he asked as he came over to help her.

They smiled at each other as she shook her head at him. "Yeah," Haruhi said softly. She placed the first slice on a paper plate, stuck a plastic fork in it and handed it to him.

"Ooh, commoner utensils!" Tamaki teased.

"You'd better believe it," she retorted playfully. For a brief moment that felt like forever their gazes locked and Haruhi had the feeling Tamaki was going to kiss her when Hunny interrupted.

"Can Usa-chan and I have the second piece, Haruhi? Please?" Hunny flashed his cutest smile at her. "And could Takashi," he looked over at his cousin, Mori, "have one too?"

"Uh, sure." She quickly placed the next three slices on paper plates and handed two to Mori, the other one she gave to Kyouya.

The club's shadow king took a bite, swallowed and said, "Not bad for a cake mix."

"Thanks."

Kyouya nodded. "Canned frosting too?"

"But of course," she replied dryly.

"Oooh! Commoner cake?!" the twins chorused as Haruhi silently handed them each a slice.

While cutting a piece for herself, Tamaki sidled up to her and whispered. "It's not bad at all, Daughter."

She rolled her eyes at his odd pet name for her. "Thanks, my dad'll be happy to hear that." Haruhi looked over her shoulder at him. He was so close she could imagine closing her eyes and kissing him.

"You're welcome."

"Haruhi! This cake is delicious! Are you sure it came from a mix?" Hunny asked.

"Yeah…" She looked over at her friends. They were sitting around enjoying the cake washed down with commoner coffee. It was like being at a meeting only better; as the sea of buttercup yellow was absent. She smiled, lost in thought, until a plastic fork came into view and snagged a piece of her cake. "Hey!"

"I thought you weren't going to eat that," Tamaki said, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"I am. I was just ummm…" Haruhi shrugged, "thinking about something."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah…"

They stared into each other's eyes while the bell, signaling the end of the day, chimed

Kyouya coughed several times before they seemed to notice his presence. "Haruhi, if you want to knock a bit off your debt, you can stay behind and clean up the mess."

"Sure," she quickly replied. _Not that there's much of a mess. It should me all of two minutes to clean this up. All I need is a garbage bag… _Haruhi tried not to frown as she could have sworn she saw several light bulbs going off over her friend's heads with the possible exception of Tamaki. Sighing softly, she said good bye to the others and proceeded to pick up the paper plates and cups that littered the room. "You don't have to wait for me, Tamaki," she said as he fiddled with the CD player.

"That's okay; I really don't have anywhere to go." He clarified, after seeing her look of surprise, "My dad's away on business and Grand-mère is busy too…"

"Oh…"

Tamaki shrugged. "It's okay, I'm used to it."

Haruhi, not knowing what to say, simply nodded.

He walked over to her and for the second time that afternoon, Haruhi could have sworn he was about to kiss her. But all he did was reach behind her and pick up the remains of his birthday cake.

"Shall we put this in Hunny's sweets cabinet?"

"If you want, otherwise you could bring it home."

"Maybe I'll take a slice home." He smiled at her. "I figure this way, if I left it here, then we could enjoy it again at tomorrow's meeting."

"Good idea…"

"Yeah…"

They stared at each other as Mozart played softly in the background. When Tamaki's favorite song began to play, he said, with a slight bow, "M'accorderiez-vous cette dance, Mademoiselle?"

"Hunh?"

"Would you care to have this dance with me, Mademoiselle?"

Haruhi nodded. "Oui…" she said breathlessly as he took the bag, containing the garbage, from her and set it down.

Gathering her in his arms, Tamaki waltzed Haruhi around the room to the strains of Mozart's_ Sonata for two pianos in D major_. As the last piano note sounded, Tamaki leaned towards her.

Closing her eyes, Haruhi felt like she had a thousand butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. _Oh my god! He's going to kiss me! What am I going to do? _Their lips met, softly and chastely in what Haruhi would call her first "grown up kiss." Somehow she found herself simply being held by him and it felt right, with his cheek resting against the top of her head.

_Haruhi… my sweet beautiful daughter…_ Tamaki thought as he held her close._ Thank you for making this the best birthday ever…_


End file.
